Posted on 04/01/2005 4:26:00 PM PST by Poohbah
First, this is NOT an April Fool's joke.
I am leaving Free Republic.
Over the past two years, civility and thoughtful discourse has vanished from this site, replaced with demands for ideological conformity that are straight out of Stalinist Russia or China's Great Cultural Revolution, and unrelenting uncivility if said conformance is not forthcoming. This trend began with the California recall election, where certain posters were allowed to flame the living beejezus out of those who didn't wholeheartedly support Tom McClintock, or thought that he wasn't running a campaign capable of winning. It extended into the Keyes campaign last year, where any critique of Keyes' campaign strategy was shrilly flamed, despite the obviously flawed execution of his campaign.
(Aside: one person who flamed me during the Keyes mess later said that he hadn't intended to start a fight with his remarks that accused me of homosexuality, pedophilia, and other evils; I was instantly reminded of the time I had to bail one of my Marines out of the local lockup. "Honest, Sarge," this Marine told me, "I didn't mean to start a fight when I called that Army Ranger a faggot." My response was not [and still isn't] suitable for public consumption.)
Since then, the Terri Schiavo case has pushed FR over the edge. We had posts calling for people to ensure that "accidents" to befall Schiavo and Judge Greer. We had posts praying that Iran would soon develop nuclear weapons, so that they could destroy the United States. And until the FBI started making arrests, those posts were allowed to stay up, completely abnegating Free Republic's standards.
We had people on both sides of the issue point out that the Schindlers were associating with some people of extremely low character, and that our uncritical embrace of these parties would not rebound to our favor. Rather reasonable attitudes to take, actually; but the loudest of the loud were in no mood to think.
My personal favorite was the following exchange:
The issue is not legality, but public opinion. Which will not be helped in this case if the pro-Terry side becomes associated in the media with Christian Identity, white supremicists, neo-nazis, racists and/or anti-semites.
Diva Betsy Ross made a valiant attempt to...ahem...whitewash Christian Identity, but it didn't work.
To top things off, we had people embracing as some sort of conservative icon, to the extent of posting a fundraising link.
I always thought that conservatism valued thinking over feeling, careful contemplation of facts over wild-eyed repetition of every damn rumor to come down the pipe, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. For a while, Free Republic met those criteria in spades.
Those days are long gone, and I have serious doubt as to whether or not they're coming back.
I know that many of the usual suspects will cheer this on, as their longtime nemesis is leaving them the field.
Be careful what you wish for; you are in the process of getting it. You may succeed in driving the folks who disagree with you from the site; but you will end up being just another collection of shrill voices in Bedlam. When everything is an over-the-top scream, no one will be heard.
Farewell.
?????
Oh my....I don't think I've ever posted an excerpt!
My 1st post got no replies. I thought I had done it wrong so waited for weeks before trying again!
Then you haven't seen much... which would explain most of your posts.
LOL...your one big chance to be a hero.....
Have you read my posts at all the past couple weeks? I have constantly said I believe the parents over MS.
Perhaps you can't understand this, but my question was a hypothetical...it does not mean I think she actually wanted to die.
Goodness.
I know just enough to get me here and post,my typing's not bad,though I am FR's QUEEN OF TYPOS. LOL
That's a guy Jim banned with ALL his Freeper nicks (so far).
I propose a new rule. Those who wish to call someone a Nazi may do so only if they call them a "Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei" (SP?)
I predict it will cut down on the nazi name calling by at least 80%
Yeah. I was robbed of my big break!
that list was one guy? LOL, he had tooooo much time on his hands.
That's funny!
I was saying way back in this thread that some of us have disagreed but we didn't get so nasty -- might have said stuff it a few times to people but that's about it. Most of us will stand up for what we believe which I respect even if I don't agree.
These people the last couple of weeks were really nasty when going after someone. I had never seen anything like it.
HOLY COW!
I've been trying to come up with a name for a record publishing company for a month, so I know I couldn't keep think of new screennames.
Get in the spirit.
I this a flame room like the chat room would be cool. Fun too.
I first got AOL to go to Court TV chat during the O.J. trial; I had to hid the phone bill for MONTHS. In fact, I still may be paying on those.
Well I can't recall ever being more upset about anything. Not Waco or Ruby Ridge or Elian or the Clinton double-standards. So if you don't have a strong opinion, tread lightly. If you do and it's not mine, be ready for a real ugly fight.
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